Medicinal Cannabis, Driving Instructions and the Medical Defence in New Zealand
What the statutory prescription defence actually requires, and why instructions matter.
Holding a medicinal cannabis prescription does not automatically resolve every drug-driving issue. It is one part of a larger picture.
Section 64 of the Land Transport Act 1998 contains statutory defences relating to applicable prescribed qualifying drugs and offences. This guide explains that in plain English. It is informational only and is not legal advice.
What the defence generally requires
For the relevant oral-fluid infringement offences, two things matter together:
- A current and valid prescription for that person for the medicine concerned.
- Compliance with the applicable instructions given by the health practitioner or the drug manufacturer concerning driving, alcohol and/or other prescription medicines.
The prescription establishes one part of the picture — that the medicine was lawfully prescribed to you. The applicable instructions, and evidence that you followed them, may also matter.
Why timing can be relevant
Instructions vary between prescribers, products and patients. Some instructions involve a period of time after taking the medicine before driving.
Where an instruction is expressed in terms of time, establishing when the intake actually occurred becomes relevant. Recollection after the event is weaker than a record made at the time.
Where DriveClear fits
DriveClear creates a contemporaneous record of medicinal-cannabis intake, including the recorded time of intake and the treatment information entered by the patient.
Where timing forms part of applicable instructions, a DriveClear intake record can provide evidence relevant to establishing when the medicinal cannabis was recorded as taken and whether that recorded timeline is consistent with those instructions.
That record sits alongside the other material a patient may hold:
- The prescription
- Prescriber instructions
- Relevant manufacturer or product instructions
- Dispensing information
DriveClear does not determine impairment or guarantee that a statutory defence will succeed. The defence depends on the applicable law, instructions, circumstances and evidence.
The defence is not an exemption from testing
The medical defence does not exempt anyone from lawful roadside testing. A lawful testing requirement still applies, and must still be complied with, whether or not a person holds a prescription.
- A prescription alone does not answer every drug-driving question.
- Section 64 of the Land Transport Act 1998 sets out the statutory defences.
- A current, valid prescription and compliance with applicable instructions both matter.
- Where instructions involve timing, when the intake occurred is relevant.
- The defence is not an exemption from lawful roadside testing.
Primary source
Land Transport Act 1998, section 64 (current version).
Continue learning
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